The present invention relates generally to telecommunication and telephone devices.
More particularly, the present invention pertains to a system, method and device for, under the selective control of and at the option of a user, either answering an incoming telephone call or interrupting a connected call already answered by the user or previously initiated from a telephone on the user's line and already in progress, and then delivering a desired one of a plurality of verbal messages over the user's telephone line to the calling party or another party on the user's line, and then, after delivering the desired verbal message over the telephone line, either disconnecting the call to the user's telephone or reestablishing the call in progress. It is a primary purpose of the present invention to provide a means for delivering appropriate verbal messages over the telephone for responding to unwanted telephone calls and for freeing the user's telephone line. In the following description, the invention will be generally referred to as a telephone "responder".
The telephone, while an essential means of communication, is frequently a source of disturbance and annoyance to telephone subscribers, and unwanted telephone calls are often looked upon as a nuisance and an invasion of privacy by the called party.
Telephone answering machines are commonly employed not only for the unattended automatic answering of incoming telephone calls and the recording of callers' messages in the absence of the called party, but also for "call screening" where the called party is in fact present to answer the telephone but instead chooses to allow the answering machine to answer an incoming call and deliver a prerecorded outgoing message to the caller, whereupon the called party then waits for the caller to leave an incoming message identifying himself/herself, and whereby the called party is able to identify the caller before actually picking up the telephone receiver to speak to the caller, in which way the called party is able to screen callers and choose only to speak with those callers he or she desires to speak with. However, the use of telephone answering machines for call screening has disadvantages, in that some callers with whom the called party may in fact wish to speak may, for various reasons, hang up when an answering machine answers their call, terminating the call without identifying themselves, and thus the called party may miss a call he or she otherwise would have taken.
The so-called practice of "telemarketing" is being more and more widely employed by various persons, organizations and businesses for making sales, survey and solicitation calls to telephone subscribers, however, many people receiving calls from telemarketers find such calls to be disturbing and annoying, especially during mealtimes or evening hours as is frequently the case.
The public subscriber telephone companies offer "unlisted" telephone numbers, often at additional cost, to those telephone subscribers who wish to restrict access to their telephone number listings, however even an unlisted telephone number may receive unwanted sales and solicitation calls due to the use by telemarketers of automatic telephone number selection and dialling equipment.
More recently, there are being implemented by some telephone service providers certain service features made possible by the computerization of the public switched telephone network switching functions, by which subscribers having required special display telephones or ancillary display devices are able to identify the telephone number of a calling party before answering a call, and even to program their telephones not to accept, i.e. to "block" calls from certain callers' telephone numbers. However, such features entail not only additional subscriber charges but also the purchase of expensive display telephone equipment for their utilization, and are presently only available in limited service areas. Also, in practice the call blocking feature may typically still require that a telephone call first be received before it can be determined whether the call from that certain caller's number being then displayed is an unwanted call to be blocked in the future, and, typically, only a limited number of caller numbers to be blocked may be programmed for such action. Thus it may still occur that unwanted calls from new callers will be received, necessitating that these calls be taken, and thus still subjecting the called party to unwanted calls.
Still further, because the telephone is such an essential means of communication for the public, many telephone subscribers consider it most necessary to receive all telephone calls in case a call may be important, yet at the same time they find being constantly bombarded with endless sales and solicitation calls to be a nuisance. Moreover, having answered an unwanted sales or solicitation call, many people are uncomfortable about how to handle the situation, not wishing to appear rude to the caller but being unable to politely cut-off the caller's sales pitch long enough to terminate the call in as civil a manner as possible. Thus, the reception of unwanted telephone calls raises the often psychologically demanding problem of dealing with such calls.
When faced with an unwanted sales, survey or solicitation call, it would be most convenient to be able to respond to such a call in an appropriate and civil manner by delivering a message advising the caller that the call is not wanted and then hanging up the phone, all at the push of a button and without having to personally deal with the caller.
Additionally, there are times when, such as during mealtimes or when otherwise occupied, some telephone subscribers may not then desire take incoming telephone calls, but may nevertheless wish the calling parties to call back at a later, more convenient time. Some telephone answering machines provide an operating mode for automatically answering a call and delivering an outgoing message, for example to advise callers to call back later, without recording an incoming message from the caller. However, conventional answering machines can only deliver a single outgoing message, so that it becomes necessary for the user to first record one outgoing message, for example at mealtime, requesting callers to call back later, and to then set the machine in a mode only to deliver the outgoing message, while at other times when the user is going out and wishes to receive messages from callers, a different message must be recorded and the machine must be set to another mode for recording incoming messages from callers. Further, telephone answering machines are relatively expensive.
Thus, at such times when the telephone subscriber is occupied and is not able or does not desire to speak with callers but nevertheless desires callers to call back later, it would be convenient to be able to respond to a call and deliver an appropriate message advising the caller that the called party is not then able to take the call at that time and requesting the caller to call back at a later, more convenient time, and then to disconnect the caller, all at the push of a button and without requiring the use of an expensive telephone answering machine.
The present invention has as one of its objects the provision of a means by which telephone calls may be answered by the called party to permit the caller to identify himself/herself and the purpose of the call, and, if it should appear to the called party that the call is an unwanted call, then at the touch of a button by the called party an appropriate message may be automatically delivered to the caller prior to automatic termination of the telephone connection.
The present invention has as another of its objects the provision of a means by which, at times when a telephone subscriber is not able or does not then wish to take incoming telephone calls but wishes callers to call back at a later time, an incoming telephone call may be responded to by, at the touch of a button by the called party, being automatically answered, and an appropriate message delivered to the caller requesting the caller to call back at a later time, and then disconnecting the caller.
In addition to screening unwanted calls and advising callers to call back at a later time, there are occasions when it may be desirable to deliver an appropriate message to persons on the telephone subscriber's line, for example, a party on an extension telephone on the subscriber's premises and engaged in a telephone conversation with a party connected with the subscriber's line, to advise the parties to free the telephone line or to terminate the conversation. Thus for example, when a teenager is using the phone to converse with a friend, it would be convenient for a parent to be able, at the touch of a button, to deliver an appropriate message over the telephone line to the parties on the line advising them that the line is required for placing another call and requesting that the conversation therefore be shortly concluded to free the line. Similarly, it might be desirable for the parent to be able, at the touch of a button, to interrupt a conversation in progress on the telephone line and deliver an appropriate message advising the parties on the line that it is mealtime, homework time, etc., and then permit the parties to conclude their conversation.
It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide a means for, at the touch of a button, interrupting a call in progress on a telephone subscriber's line and delivering an appropriate message to parties on the line.
The present invention may be embodied in an electronic telephone call responding device which is connectable or interfaceable with the user's telephone line and which operates to allow the user to conveniently respond to an incoming telephone call without speaking to the caller personally. The device will typically include a plurality of user-actuatable control keys or buttons each associated with a particular message appropriate to a different situation or circumstance. In operation, when the telephone rings, the user may answer the telephone as normally and then, if desired, actuate a selected key on the device to deliver a desired pre-programmed outgoing message to the caller, at the conclusion of which message the device will then automatically hang up, disconnecting the caller without further action by the user being necessary.
The telephone responder device according to the present invention also allows the user the option of responding to an incoming telephone call without actually answering (i.e. picking up) the ringing telephone but by merely actuating a selected control key or button on the device for causing the device to automatically answer the call, deliver a desired appropriate outgoing message to the caller, and then hang up to terminate the line connection.
The telephone responder device according to the present invention additionally allows the user the option, by actuating a selected control key or button of the device, of automatically interrupting a conversation in progress over an extension telephone on the user's line and delivering an appropriate message to the parties on the line, and then surrendering the line to allow the connected parties to resume their conversation without disconnecting the parties.
The telephone responder of the invention requires manual actuation and thus is not able to operate unattended. The user must first actuate the telephone responder by, for example, pressing a control key or button associated with a particular message to be delivered over the user's telephone line, and in this way the telephone responder's operation is initiated to connect the responder to the telephone line and deliver the selected message. While requiring manual actuation by the user, the telephone responder according to the present invention incorporates computer control of its operation once actuated by the user.
The present responder system accommodates a plurality of different messages each appropriate to a particular situation or circumstance. These messages are stored as digital data in user-installable plug-in message memory modules so as to be selectively generated therefrom upon user actuation of the device. The messages are stored as digital data in non-volatile solid state memory, and the responder system includes message generation means for reproducing the stored message data as an audio analog speech signal and for delivering the audio speech signal over the user's telephone line.
Advantageously, the present invention can employ various means and techniques for forming, reproducing or otherwise electronically "vocalizing" or generating verbal speech messages for delivery as audio speech signals over the telephone line. One of the available technologies which may be implemented for providing message speech generation in practicing the present invention is electronic speech synthesis from digital (i.e. binary) "vocabulary" and "speech" data stored in digital memory. In electronic speech synthesis, a speech synthesizer circuit utilizing excitation of a time-varying digital filter(s) operates to "reconstruct" a close analog of vocal speech from pre-recorded or pre-programmed digital message data including heavily compressed quantized speech data and formant filter control parameter data.
Another available technology implementable for message speech generation in the present responder system is digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion of quantized "speech" data stored in digital memory (i.e. "digital audio"). Embodiments implementing each of these technologies will be further described hereinbelow.
It is envisaged that manufacturers of telephone responder systems and devices in accordance with the present invention will provide a number of different pre-programmed or pre-recorded message data memory modules or "chips" each appropriate to a particular call response circumstance and each containing in digital data form a particular message for reproduction by the speech message generator means in the user's unit into an analog audio speech signal for delivery over the telephone line. This approach offers the advantage of simplicity and lower cost, since the end-user may choose from among a library of appropriate pre-programmed/pre-recorded messages to fit the user's particular circumstances for equipping his or her specific unit, without it being necessary to equip the user's unit with costly message recording facilities or complex message programming means. Another advantage of this approach is that, because the messages may be pre-programmed/pre-recorded to be reproduced in an authoritative or "official-sounding" voice, the generated messages will tend to engender respect and obedience in callers receiving such messages, while at the same time the user is advantageously freed from the sometimes difficult task of having to personally deal with an unwanted caller and framing and delivering an appropriate response message.
The telephone responder device according to the present invention may be implemented as a separate telephone accessory device or may be incorporated together with a handset and switching, dialling, speech, ringing and other circuits into a self-contained telephone unit. The responder device may also include remote control actuation capability. The telephone responder device of the invention is connectable to a telephone jack on the user's telephone line without any modification being necessary. In its form as a separate telephone accessory device, the telephone responder is installed by connecting it to a telephone line wall jack, and then connecting the user's telephone set to an appropriate jack provided on the responder device. When not actuated, the telephone responder device has no effect on the operation of the connected telephone set.
The present invention also resides in a method for controlling a telephone call responding system for responding to incoming telephone calls on a subscriber's telephone line, including the steps of operably connecting the responder system with the subscriber's telephone line and going "off-hook", generating and delivering a selected message over the telephone line, and then disconnecting both the responder system and the caller from the subscriber's line by going "on-hook". Optimally, the method according to the present invention is implemented as a series of program instructions for execution by a programmable computer control means of the telephone call responding system.
The present invention may be embodied in a telephone call responder system including a user input unit for system actuation and message selection, a telephone line interface unit for interfacing the responder system with a subscriber's telephone line, a message generation unit for processing digital message data of a selected verbal message to generate an analog audio speech message signal therefrom and for delivering the audio speech message signal over the subscriber's telephone line, and a programmable digital control unit for detecting user actuation and message selection and for controlling the operation of the user input unit, the telephone line interface unit and the message generation unit.
There have previously been known devices for verbal telephone message storage and retrieval. For example, Winter et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,623,761 and 4,697,282 both disclose a voice recording, storage and retrieval system capable of presenting to a telephone caller a selected previously recorded message stored in memory and delivered via an audio interface. These disclosed systems are intended for use by a telephone company operator for recording and storing in memory a series of messages prepared by the operator, after which the system can be used by the operator in answering incoming calls and for delivering via a speech synthesizer one or more of the pre-recorded messages in a very close analog of the operator's "voice" to the caller, after which the conversation between the operator and caller may then proceed normally. A feature of these systems is that the operator records each message, and each reproduced message is a close analog of the original message as recorded so that callers are thus not able to detect that the message being delivered is in fact a recording.
Similarly, telephone companies typically employ conventional pre-recorded message or message "assembly" and delivery systems for various operations such as for advising directory assistance callers of requested telephone numbers.
However, such conventional telephone company message storage, reproduction/assembly and delivery systems require large computers, memories and switching systems and are complicated and expensive to implement, thus being unaffordable for individual consumer and subscriber use.
There are also known other types of devices for delivering pre-recorded response or information messages via telephone. For example, Williams et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,410 discloses a device which enables a caller to select among a number of prerecorded information messages by pressing an appropriate tone-dialling button on a telephone keypad, whereby the selected message is automatically delivered to the caller over the telephone.
Riley U.S. Pat. No. 3,504,121 and Galian et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,065 disclose automatic "wake-up" call signalling devices for use by hotel guests, these devices delivering a wake-up call message or signal to the guest's room telephone at a time selected or programmed by the guest operating his or her room telephone. And U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,508 to Johnson discloses automatically delivering a number of different pre-recorded messages to called telephones.
However, there has remained a need for a simple means of responding to incoming telephone calls and for delivering appropriate verbal messages over the telephone line which can be implemented at a relatively low cost so as to be affordable for use by consumers.
It is therefore still another object of the present invention to provide a simple means for responding to incoming telephone calls and for delivering appropriate call response messages over the telephone which can be implemented at moderate cost so as to be affordable for use by consumers.
In this regard, in comparison to the known call responding devices such as for example those disclosed in the above-noted U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,623,761 and 4,697,282 in which messages to be delivered to callers must first be prepared, that is, recorded by the operator using message recording facilities, the system and device according to the present invention advantageously eliminate the necessity for costly and complex message preparation/recording facilities and instead make use of pre-programmed or pre-recorded digital message data and thus only require message generation means for either speech-synthesizing desired messages from preprogrammed digital message data stored in memory, or for reproducing pre-recorded digital message data as analog speech, thereby freeing the user from having to frame and prepare appropriate response messages for various situations and offering affordability.
It is therefore yet still another object of the present invention to provide a telephone call responder system and device incorporating electronic message generation means and offering a plurality of user-selectable pre-programmed/pre-recorded call response messages.